Join us on our journey of the canals and rivers of Britain's inland waterways.

Saturday, 18 February 2012

Decision made ...

... for various reasons (post, fuel, water) both Moore 2 Life and Seyella have decided not to 'do' the Montgomery Canal; they've both done it before and originally we decided that we would stick with the convoy and give it a miss, and then we changed our minds, it would be a pity to be here and not go down as we'd not done it before. So here we go ...

10 past 10 and we're away from the very pleasant moorings below New Marton Lock and although it's cloudy it's quite warm with hardly any breeze - perfect! ...

... and passing the disused railway bridge 10W ...

... and the very low Paddock No 2 Bridge which is signed 9W! ...

... it's low because as you can see, the old wooden beams are still in place.

So, Mr Badger lives here then!

Very peaceful rural scenes with what I think is Welsh Frankton Church in the distance

Bridge 1W where we turn right onto what was originally the mainline of the Llangollen canal ...

... we can moor over there in front of that boat. We have booked the descent of Frankton Locks for tomorrow (Saturday) as according to our Nicholson's Guide the locks were open Mon-Fri 9:30-10:30 and we didn't think we would be here in time, but the times shown must be for the summer. We'd only waited 5 minutes when the lock-keeper arrived and said that we could go down today.

The locks consist of a staircase of two (where the top gate of the bottom lock is also the bottom gate of the top lock without a 'pound' (stretch of water) in-between) and two single locks ...

... the second (bottom) lock is very deep ...

The bottom gates have been left open. Contractors are doing maintenance to the culverts and the lock keeper is having to stop any 'rush' of water from the by-washes/over-flows as this will damage the work being done. George (hubby) is helping so that the lock keeper can keep going below to ensure that the water level is just sufficient to allow boats passage.

My turn now ... the top lock was empty so it's now being slowly filled ...

... the lock keeper returned to the paddles at the top which open the sluices in the gates twice during my descent to let more water slowly through to ensure that there was enough water for me to pass over the cill to exit the lock ...

... the lock keeper (in blue) is checking that the water level in the top lock is equal to that in the lower lock ...

... and that there is just enough water in the pound (water between two locks), too much water in here may damage the culvert below...

... the lock keeper is now happy for me to exit the top staircase lock and enter the lower lock ...

... emptying the bottom lock, the water is gushing out, you can see on the wall immediately below the lock gates that the water level is very low, so hopefully this lock-full will bring the level up enough to give me safe passage ...

... and I start to exit the lock ...

... unfortunately Rock n Roll has a fairly deep draught (about 28/29 inches), and I ran aground on the bend of the picture above, the lock keeper went back to the top of the staircase and slowly opened some of the sluices just enough to let down enough water to get me off the bottom! All's well that ends well and I proceed into the first of the single locks ...

... as the lock keeper is still watching the water level in the bottom staircase lock before he closes the sluices again.

Looking back from the first of the single locks, the photo clearly shows how low the level of water is in the middle pound between me and the staircase locks.

The lock keeper checks how much, if any, water is overflowing into the culvert channel - it looks dry to me ...

... he then returns to the to the top to the hire boat waiting to come down, I hope they manage it without too much difficulty.

Looking back from below Frankton locks, one of the repaired culverts is fenced off, I hope that we've not done any damage to it today.

We're now at the water point and service area of the derelict Western Arm which was intended to reach Shrewsbury but never got that far ...

... and here comes hire boat 'In Our Own Time' very soon after.

The end of the Weston Arm with RnR now moored on the right

Whilst George did a couple of jobs in the engine bay Molly and I went for a walk along the towpath to the Graham Palmer Lock ...

... here too the overflow on the left of the picture is also dry

Although it's only been about 45 minutes since the hire boat went down this lock it's clear to see that the top gates (left) must leak quite badly because the lock chamber is nearly full again.

It's been a while since I've taken a picture of snowdrops growing in the wild!

The electricty pylons round here sizzle; you can hear them from a distance

but the current end of navigation is just 6 miles away near Maesbury Marsh

Looking across the canal round the bend I can just make out Rock n Roll in the distance

... another dollop ... I just can't resist these pretty flowers!

This Shropshire walk is well signposted ....

... over this stile ...

... and across the field to this stile but it doesn't look very well used, the farmer has planted it all ...

.... now on my way back to Rock n Roll hoping that George is now finished with the engine

... we pass British Waterways working boat Bala as we walk to the small bridge to reach the other side of the canal

5 minutes to 5 and the sun starts to go down ...

... and 20 to 6 ...

... a beautiful sunset!
It was very wet and very windy this morning but the forecast said that it would brightened up later. It's now 1:30 and the sun is shining so it's time to stop blogging and get a move on!

"We can't stand those stuffy country pubs with signs on the door saying 'NO DOGS' and 'NO MUDDY BOOTS'. At The Navvy well behaved dogs, children and walkers are all welcome! Dogs are allowed in the bar area, and are welcome to sit by your table whilst you eat as long as they are kept under control and do not cause a disturbance to other guests."

Hi Adam - we've just this minute come back from Sunday lunch at the Navigation - superb hospitality, superb food too! We enjoyed reading the notice that they 'hate Amercianisms' did you see it?

We really don't like being rushed when we go out for a meal and in some places even if we ask for the next course not to be served for at least half an hour it never works! But today it was lovely and we didn't even have to ask for time to let one course 'go down' before another one arrives. Well recommended, thank you!